Today’s Reflection WHEN YOU FIND yourself tempted to judge others, say a prayer of blessing for them. This morning as I took my sunrise walk on Craigsville Beach, I found a number of opportunities to bless my predawn morning companions! Tempted to judge the high school student who drove up with hip-hop music blasting, I […]

Today’s Reflection GOD’S GRACE of interdependence invites us to accept our own and others’ imperfections and to lean on one another and God to find our own personal healing. Letting go of judgment does not mean we tolerate bad behavior, let criminals go free, or let down our nation’s defenses. Letting go of judgment means […]

Today’s Reflection TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY North Americans live in a noisy world. Virtually wherever we go, we encounter music, television, or conversation. We perceive silence as awkward, while we babble as a way ostensibly to connect with others. We often talk incessantly throughout the day and chatter needlessly to fill the empty spaces. The desert fathers and […]

Today’s Reflection [SAINT] FRANCIS discovered that simplicity of life is the key to God’s realm. Downwardly mobile, he chose to focus on serving God in every encounter and responding to the deep needs of everyone he met. His focus changed from self-interest to world loyalty…. Eight hundred years after Francis, most of us question how […]

Today’s Reflection PEACEMAKING is more than just saying “The peace of Christ be with you” in the passing of the peace at church. It involves a commitment to see the divine in each person and to behave in such a way that others discover their own holiness. I realize experiencing the world in a peaceful […]

The film Paul, Apostle of Christ takes an unflinching look at persecution in the early days of the church. Even the movie’s minor characters reveal how dangerous it was to follow Jesus. Consider these roles listed in the credits: Beaten Woman; Beaten Man; Christian Victims 1, 2, and 3. Identifying with Christ often came at a […]

In Surprised by Joy, C. S. Lewis confessed he came to Christianity at the age of thirty-three, “kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance to escape.” Despite Lewis’s own personal resistance, his shortcomings, and the obstacles he faced, the Lord transformed him into a courageous and creative apologist. Lewis […]

In West with the Night, author Beryl Markham detailed her work with Camciscan, a feisty stallion she was tasked with taming. She’d met her match with Camciscan. No matter what strategy she employed, she could never fully tame the proud stallion, chalking up only one victory over his stubborn will. How many of us feel […]

The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is a spectacular building. Its architecture is spellbinding, and its stained-glass windows and splendid interior features are breathtaking. But after centuries of standing sentry over the Paris landscape, it is falling apart. Time and pollution have taken their toll, and it is time for this glorious structure to be […]

In 1957, Melba Pattillo Beals was selected to be one of the “Little Rock Nine,” a group of nine African American students who first integrated the previously all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. In her 2018 memoir, I Will Not Fear: My Story of a Lifetime of Building Faith under Fire, Beals gives […]